Joined at the Hip
by papillonrose22
Summary: Hector comes to visit Imelda for her anniversary (despite her still hating him). An accident causes the two of them to be stuck together, forced to communicate. One shot. Takes place before the movie in the land of the dead.


*knock knock*

"MAMA! CAN YOU GET THE DOOR?" yelled Julio.

Imelda came down the stairs to see her son in law hard at work on a big shoe order.

"Ay, it's Hector." she said annoyed as she entered the room.

"How do you know?"

"It's our anniversary."

"It- it is? already? Wow, how time flies. It seems like only yesterday he tried giving you cupcakes for your last anniversary."

"OSCAR? FELIPE?" Imelda yelled up the stairs.

"WE'RE BUSY IMELDA!" replied Felipe.

"NEW INVENTION!" continued Oscar.

"ITS... COMING ALL TOGETHER!" finished Felipe.

"Of course Rosita and Victoria had to be out running errands as soon as _he_ shows up."

"Come on Mamá, you must be used to turning him away by now." Julio said.

It wasn't easy for her. Every time she saw his face it was difficult to keep her composure. When she died it was easy to keep her anger in the fore front of her mind since she hadn't seen him in nearly 60 some years. His persistence has not only been annoying and confusing but in a way, touching. She had forgotten how much she liked his smile and his voice. She loved Hector more than anyone, he was the love of her life. After seeing him the past few years, it's been difficult to imagine that the person she loved so much could have abandoned them. But she couldn't let her past feelings effect her. He still left them. Avoiding any contact with him makes it easier to ignore the crazy amount of emotions that come with seeing him. Seems she can't avoid him this year. She went to open the door.

"I- Imelda? You answered!" Hector said shocked.

"Hector, we've been over this. We can't celebrate our anniversary when-"

"You remembered?!"

"Don't flatter yourself. Now please go." she said avoiding eye contact and trying to not sound disappointed at the idea of him leaving.

"I wanted to give you these" he reached out to give her purple flowers, her favorite. She decided to step outside and close the door so Julio wouldn't be watching.

"You know I don't want flowers!" she said rolling her eyes. She nearly snapped at him, not because she didnt want them but because she did, and she didn't want to admit it.

"What do you want?" Hector asked.

"For you to leave!"

"I'm just trying to give you flowers."

"Just go before I call Pepita." she said still avoiding eye contact.

"Wait please! I've wanted to talk to you for a while now, if you'd just listen."

"Pepita is only a whistle away Hector, choose your next words wisely." this time she looked at him with an icy stare.

"I want to know why-"

"OSCAR LOOK OUT!" they heard Felipe yell from inside. Then a giant tub of blue goo came crashing out of the twin's window. The goo started coming down right on top of Imelda.

"IMELDA!" Hector jumped towards her to get her out of the way but was too late. They both got soaked in the thick blue goo. Suddenly the goo started hardening, causing the two to be stuck together. The side Hector's chest against Imelda's left arm, their entire bodies were glued in this position.

"Hector, get off of me!" she exclaimed angrily.

"I'm trying amor but-" he started calmly.

"Don't call me that!" she snapped.

"Force of habit." he said sheepishly.

"Get off!" Imelda said trying to push him away.

"I can't!" he said hopelessly.

Oscar and Felipe came rushing outside.

"Oh-"

"No."

"What is this?" Imelda asked trying to stand up unsuccessfully.

"Eeehhhh. Our new invention!" Felipe started.

"We were trying to make-"

"a new type of glue-"

"for shoes!"

"to make our jobs easier!" they finished.

"Glue?" Imelda asked.

"Si" they both said proud of their idea.

Imelda continued struggling to get up.

"Well help me get up, payaso!" she said frustrated.

"I'm trying, mi corazon!"

"Stop with the nicknames!"

"You called me 'payaso'!"

"Because you're an idiot!" she hissed.

"But I'm your idiot" he said with a smile causing her to roll her eyes.

"Oscar, Felipe, how do we get this stuff off?" Imelda asked.

"Uuuuuhhh- we don't know." they said as they came to help their sister and brother-in-law stand.

"What do you mean you don't know?" she asked angrily.

"The glue is our original recipe!" Oscar replied.

"-unlike any other!" Felipe clarified.

"Which means it cannot be removed like regular glue!" Oscar finished.

"I don't care how! Just get this stuff off!" Imelda said desperately.

"Si si, right away, Imelda!" Felipe replied.

"We'll be right back" the two ran away as fast as they could.

"What a way to spend our anniversary eh?"

"If you are going to survive the rest of today, I suggest you keep your mouth shut!"

"You can't call pepita when I'm stuck to you! Now it's just you and me! We can finally-"

"JULIO!" she yelled.

He came rushing out. "What is it ma- oh my."

"Julio?" Hector asked.

"Don't introduce yourself! This isn't a family reunion!" she said trying to cross her arms but her left arm was stuck so she stomped in a huff and put her right hand on her hip.

"I believe the definition of a family reunion is a family being reunited. Which is what has just happened, si?" hector remarked.

Imelda was speechless, she loved and hated that quality about him. He was the only person ever to cause her to draw a blank.

"What did you need mama?" Julio asked.

"Get a saw from our tools, por favor."

"eh what for?" he asked nervously.

"I'm going to try and cut myself out of this mess!"

Julio ran off.

"Look, if you want to be seperated so badly, why not just let your arm off until we find a solution?" Hector suggested.

"Let my arm off? I can't do that!" she said nearly offended.

"Sure you can! You're a skeleton!"

"A well remembered skeleton, thank you very much!" she said sticking her non-existant nose in the air.

"Doesn't mean you can't let loose every once in a while! Just try!"

She starts to pull herself away from him but no luck.

"It wont work. My hip is stuck to your leg."

"I can go without a leg, if you go without an arm. Here see?" Hector's hips and left leg hop off in front of Imelda. She backs up slightly disgusted.

"I dont like this." she said.

"Alright." He put himself back together. "If we are going to be stuck together then lets catch up!"

"Now that you mention it, losing an arm for a day doesnt sound too bad."

"Come on Imelda, it's our anniversary! I think I at least deserve a conversation."

"No, what you deserve is a shoe to your stupid face! I'd hit you if I wasn't stuck to you!"

"I guess today is just extra lucky then!"

"Lucky?"

"Si, you married me today didn't you?"

"and you find that lucky?" she asked confused.

"I got to marry the woman I love, that's the luckiest thing I can think of."

"If you loved me so much then why did you leave?"

"To provide for you and Coco!"

"Not this again. You stopped sending letters after 4 months! YOU STAYED GONE! THAT is not providing for your family, it's abandoning them! You never loved us!"

"Why do you think I come to see you every year?"

"Because you're an idiot."

"That's not a reason. Come on, Imelda! Deep down you must know I have always loved you."

"How can I know that when you left me alone! Do you have _any_ idea how much pain you caused me? How many tears Coco cried over you?! The ridicule from the entire city that I drove away the only man ever interested in marrying me? All the bills I had to try and pay while trying to raise a child by myself. I don't have any idea why you come to see me on my birthday, on Coco's birthday, on our anniversary, or whenever you feel like because YOU DON'T LOVE ME!"

The door creaks open. Imelda turns to see Julio standing in the doorway shocked, holding a saw. Hector didn't even notice the sound, he was consumed in his own shock, staring at Imelda. She felt slightly embarrassed. It was obvious Julio heard what she had said.

"... the saw. Julio. Gracios mijo." she said calmly.

Julio walked slowly up to her and handed over the saw. Hector was then struck with fear.

"N-now Imelda. Listen, no need to-"

"I'm not going to cut you, Hector! I'm just trying to get us seperated."

A slight pause of silence hit as Imelda started positioning herself to try and cut off the glue.

"Is that what you want?" Hector said sadly.

"What?" Imelda said confused and less aroused.

"Do you... do you want to be separated." His tone of voice filled in the context. Imelda was now struck with shock. She didn't expect him to ask that question. And she didn't want to answer. Mostly because she doesn't know the answer.

"I... I want the glue off. I can't be stuck to you all day now can I?" She said trying to lighten the mood.

"IMELDA WE HAVE IT!" Felipe yelled running to them.

"A way to remove the glue?" she asked.

"Si!"


End file.
